The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current, December 04, 2023, Page 14, Image 14

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    A.C.E.
Page 14 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
December 4, 2023
Godzilla film director pursuing Japanese spirituality of 1954 original
Continued from page 20
And so its arrival puts everything back
into negative, or minus, territory.
Ryunosuke Kamiki portrays the hero, a
soldier who survives the war and loses his
family, only to end up confronting God-
zilla.
The monster’s finely detailed depiction
is the work of the Tokyo-based Shirogumi
digital special-effects team, which
includes
Yamazaki.
A
frightfully
realistic-appearing Godzilla crashes into
fleeing screaming crowds, its giant tail
sweeping buildings in a flash, its bumpy
skin glowing like irradiated embers, its
growl getting right up into your face.
Some
Godzilla
aficionados
feel
Hollywood has at times incorrectly
portrayed “Gojira,” as it is known in Japan,
like an inevitably fatalistic natural
disaster, when the nuclear angle is key.
Yamazaki, a friendly man with quick
laughs, stressed he loves the special effects
of Hollywood films, adding that he is a big
fan of Gareth Edwards’ 2014 Godzilla film.
That helped inspire the last Japanese
Godzilla, the 2016 Shin Godzilla, directed
by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi. Toho
studios hadn’t made a Godzilla film since
2004.
Yamazaki, who has worked with famed
auteur Juzo Itami, has won Japan’s
equivalent of an Oscar for Always —
Sunset on Third Street, a heartwarming
family drama set in the 1950s, and The
Eternal Zero, about Japanese fighter
JAPANESE SPIRITUALITY. Pictured in Tokyo
are Godzilla Minus One director Takashi Yamazaki,
left, and actor Ryunosuke Kamiki. In the 1954 classic
film, directed by Ishiro Honda, a man sweated inside
a rubber suit and trampled over cityscape miniatures
to tell the story of a prehistoric creature mistakenly
brought to life by radiation from nuclear testing in
the Pacific. The monster in Godzilla Minus One is
all computer graphics. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
pilots.
He is ready to make another Godzilla
movie. But what he really wants to make is
a Star Wars film.
What got him interested in filmmaking
as a child was Steven Spielberg’s Close
Encounters of the Third Kind. He was so
enthralled with the film he couldn’t stop
talking about it, he recalled, following his
mother around for hours, even as she was
cooking dinner.
Star Wars, the franchise created by
George Lucas and another science-fiction
favorite, evokes so many Asian themes
that make him the perfect director for a
sequel, Yamazaki said.
“I am confident I can create a very
special and unique Star Wars,” he said.
Tackling climate change and alleviating hunger: States recycle and donate food headed to landfills
Continued from page 7
meat, vegetables, and dairy release the greenhouse gas
methane after being dumped in a landfill. Rescuing
unwanted fruits and vegetables, eggs, cereals, and other
food also helps to feed hungry families.
Globally, about a third of food is wasted. In the United
States, it’s even higher, at 40%, according to the Harvard
Food Law and Policy Clinic. The U.S. spends about $218
billion each year growing and producing food that is
wasted. About 63 million tons (57 million metric tons) goes
to waste, including 52.4 million tons (47.5 million metric
tons) that ends up in landfills and 10 million tons (9
million metric tons) never harvested from farms.
“What’s shocking to people often is not only how much
we waste ... but also the impact,” said Emily Broad Leib, a
Harvard University law professor and director of the
school’s Food Law and Policy Clinic. “Food waste causes
about 8% to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.”
Broad Leib says 20% of water in the U.S. is used to grow
food “that we then just throw away, so we’re basically
taking water and putting it directly into a landfill.”
But she and others also note there is growing awareness
of the need to do something about food waste in the U.S.
In 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and
Environmental Protection Agency announced a goal of
50% food waste reduction by 2030.
That has prompted a number of state-led initiatives,
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along with smaller, nonprofit efforts.
Ten states and the District of Columbia have passed
legislation or executed policies to reduce, compost, or
donate waste. All 50 states have passed legislation
shielding donors and recovery organizations from
criminal and civil liability linked to donated food.
California and Vermont have launched programs
converting residents’ food waste into compost or energy,
while Connecticut requires businesses, including larger
food wholesalers and supermarkets, to recycle food waste.
Farmers in Maryland can get a tax credit of up to $5,000
per farm for food they donate.
Several states have joined New York in setting up
systems allowing food to be donated. Rhode Island
requires food vendors servicing education institutions to
donate any unused food to food banks, while
Massachusetts limits the amount of food that businesses
can send to landfills, which Broad Leib said has increased
food donations in the state by 22% over two years.
New York’s program is in its second year, and state
officials believe it’s having a significant impact.
As of late October, the program had redistributed 5
million pounds (2.3 million kilograms) of food — the
equivalent of 4 million meals — through Feeding New
York State, which supports the state’s 10 regional food
banks and is hoping to double that number next year.
Among those required to donate food include colleges,
prisons, amusement parks, and sporting venues.
“Certainly, we should be reducing the amount we waste
to start with, but then we should be feeding people before
we throw food away if it’s good, wholesome food,” said
Sally Rowland, supervisor with the state Department of
Environmental Conservation’s Organics, Reduction, and
Recycling section. “To me, it’s a common sense kind of
thing and I think it’s just kind of built that momentum of
people understanding about how much food we’re really
wasting.”
New York’s Westchester County has eight refrigerated
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level: Easy
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# 62
Instructions: Fill in the grid so that the digits 1
through 9 appear one time each in every row, col-
umn, and 3x3 box.
Solution to
last issue’s
puzzle
Puzzle #69371 (Hard)
All solutions available at
<www.sudoku.com>.
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Mark your calendar!
The Year of the Dragon
begins February 10, 2024.
Display advertising space reservations for
our special Year of the Dragon issue are due
Monday, January 22 at 5:00pm.
The Asian Reporter’s Lunar New Year special issue
will be published on Monday, February 5, 2024.
trucks that pick up all types of perishable food, according
to Danielle Vasquez, food donations coordinator for
Feeding Westchester, one of the state’s food banks.
The group started working with businesses in 2014 but
has seen participation ramp up since the donation law
went into effect last year. Much of the food collected goes
to nearly 300 programs and partners throughout the
county, including a mobile food pantry and the Carver
Center, a nonprofit serving Port Chester’s families and
children, which has a pantry.
“This time of year is very important for us and a lot of
families across Westchester,” Vasquez said. “There is the
high cost of food. There is a high cost of living. Westchester
is a very expensive county to live in. ... We are here to
supplement our families as much as we can so, that way,
they can focus that money on paying their bills.”
Among those visiting the Carver Center last month was
Betsy Quiroa, who lamented how the cost of everything
had gone up since the coronavirus pandemic. She was
counting on getting milk, eggs, fruits, and vegetables
during her visit and said she didn’t care if the produce was
dented or slightly damaged.
“Coming here is good,” said Quiroa, a mother of four who
relies on Social Security. “If you are not working, you buy
nothing. This is the problem.”
Despite New York’s success, advocates for food waste
worry not enough is being done to meet the 2030 goal.
Broad Leib and others have called for a national effort to
coordinate the various state and local policies.
There is a goal, “but we don’t really have a great
roadmap ... and how we’re going to actually achieve that
end goal by 2030, which is kind of crazy,” Broad Leib said,
adding that a one-person liaison office in the USDA isn’t
sufficient to address the problem.
Kathryn Bender, a University of Delaware assistant
professor of economics, said donation programs are
helpful, but she worries they might shift the burden from
businesses to nonprofits, which could struggle to
distribute all the food.
“The best solution for food waste is to not have it in the
first place,” Bender said. “If we don’t need to produce all
that food, let’s not put all the resources into producing
that food.”
Casey reported from Boston.